The Dow Jones Industrial Average was experiencing a wild Tuesday trade as stocks switched been sharp gains and losses in an unusually choppy trading session that may underscore a new regime of volatility on Wall Street. The move comes as stocks attempt to snap a multiday rout a day after the blue-chip average recorded its steepest point decline in history.

What are the main benchmarks doing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 190 points, or 0.8%, at 24,529, after falling by as much as 567 points at the open, only to rebound sharply. A rally in shares of home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. (HD), up 2.9%, and gains in tech giant Apple Inc(AAPL), climbing 2.3%. Both Dow components were contributing about 55 points to the blue-chip average's advance.

S&P 500 index was up 11 points, or 0.4%, to 2,655, but was up by as much as 34 points or 1.2% at its peak.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, meanwhile, was 50 points, or 0.7%, higher at 7,018, but was up 92 points, or 1.3%, at its session high. The utilities sector, down 2.1%, and a 0.4% decline in energy shares helped to weigh on the market.

In Monday's brutal session, the Dow plunged nearly 1,600 at the low point (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-poised-for-fresh-selloff-as-dow-futures-slide-120-points-2018-02-05), as investors appeared to panic out of stocks. The index finished down 1,175.21 points, or 4.6%, to 24,345.75, marking its biggest one-day point drop ever. The S&P 500 dropped 113.19 points, or 4.1%, to 2,648.94. Before Monday, it had enjoyed the longest stretch without a 5% pullback in 20 years, but is now down more than 5% from its all-time intraday high (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp-500-registers-first-5-pullback-in-more-than-a-year-2018-02-05) of 2,872.87 on Jan. 26.

The S&P 500 and Dow also both turned negative for the year in Monday action.

The Nasdaq shed 273.42 points on Monday, or 3.8%, to end at 6,967.53, but remains 0.9% higher for the year.

See also:Here are the biggest losers among Dow and S&P 500 stocks in Monday's rout (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-the-biggest-losers-among-dow-and-sp-500-stocks-in-mondays-rout-2018-02-05)

What's driving the markets?

The volatile trading comes as Wall Street digested the steep selloff on Monday. The weakness had already began last week when data showing a faster-than-expected pickup in inflation sparked fears that the Federal Reserve could embark on a quicker route to interest-rate hikes.

Yields were climbing again on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note traded at 2.78%, reversing an intraday move that took it to around 2.71% after hitting a peak at 2.88% Monday afternoon in New York. Yields move inversely to price.

Opinion: Here's some good news for investors about the stock market's plunge (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-some-good-news-about-the-stock-markets-plunge-2018-02-05)

Some strategists have been warning for weeks that the seemingly unstoppable rally was due for a pullback. A spike in volatility appeared to push some traders to push the sell button. The Cboe Volatility Index , Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, surged 116% to 37.32 on Monday, which marked its loftiest level since August 2015, according to FactSet.

Read: 'Short-volatility Armageddon' craters a pair of Wall Street's most popular trades, could roil market (%e2%80%98Short-volatility%20Armageddon%e2%80%99%20craters%20a%20pair%20of%20Wall%20Street%e2%80%99s%20most%20popular%20trades,%20could%20roil%20market)

The VIX recently was down 18% to 30.49, after touching a level around 50 before stocks officially opened for trading.

Opinion:Tony Robbins on stock market corrections: Get used to them (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tony-robbins-on-stock-market-corrections-get-used-to-them-2018-02-02)

What were strategists saying?

"Rapid selloffs, such as the one today, can also be followed by market bounce backs as liquidity gets exhausted by programmatic selling. With next year's P/E (price/earning) on the S&P 500 now below 16, further positive impacts of tax reform and stabilization of bond yields...we think that the ongoing market selloff ultimately presents a buying opportunity," said Marko Kolanovic, global head of Macro Quantitative and Derivatives Strategy team at J.P. Morgan, in a note to clients.

"Although however tempting it may be to call this the start of the much needed correction many analysts have been calling for, those look to short the indexes must be cautious going into tomorrow's session in case of bounce," said James Hughes, chief market analyst at AxiTrader, in a note to clients.

"Frankly, we think it's healthy to see some of the recent market froth blow off--January's gains were unsustainable," said wrote Steve Chiavarone, portfolio manager at Federated Investors in a Tuesday research note titled "It's a healthy sell-off, not a harbinger of something worse (http://www.federatedinvestors.com/FII/marketcommentary/detail.do?cid=293508&utm_source=media&utm_medium=email)."

Read:The stock market is plunging: Here's what advisers say you should do (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-stock-market-is-plunging-heres-what-advisers-say-you-should-do-2018-02-05)

European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-open-with-sharp-losses-after-wall-street-carnage-2018-02-06) were down across the board. The Nikkei 225 index slid 4.7% as most Asian markets finished in the red (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-fall-hard-continuing-global-selloff-2018-02-05). Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index logged a 5.1% plunge.

Gold futures were trading lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-gets-only-mild-haven-lift-from-stock-drubbing-2018-02-06), down $4.40 at $1,332.10 an ounce, while oil futures were down (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-fall-amid-global-stock-market-routfirmer-dollar-2018-02-06) 0.5%. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index dipped slightly.